President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday gave his support to the implementation of a $5 billion floating Liquefied Natural Gas project in the country.
The Tribune reported that he gave the backing when he received a group of joint venture partners made up of UTM FLNG, TECHNIP Energies, and JGC Corporation in his office at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Speaking to correspondents after the meeting with the president, the leader of the delegation and Group Managing Director of UTM FLNG, Julius Rone, revealed that the multi-floating LNGs are being implemented with a $5 billion loan from AFRIEXIM Bank.
According to him, it would be the first floating LNG project in Nigeria and is expected to come on stream in the first quarter of 2026.
Rone revealed that the multi-floating LNGs are being implemented with a $5bn loan from AFRIEXIM Bank, adding that the loan removes financing obstacles ahead of the 2026 kickoff.
The UTM FLNG boss said that the President also directed them to prioritise the project which is expected to generate no fewer than 7,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.
He said that the investors from Technip Energies of France and JGC Corporation of Japan, were also directed to report any challenge to the president in the course of implemention.
Rone added that the two companies would invest about five billion U.S dollars in the floating energies in collaboration with the NNPC Ltd, while the Afrexim bank is working on the financing aspect.
He said that the project would have a 300,000 tonnes capacity of LPG per annum as well as meet 25 per cent of local demand of the gas.
